You've probably read my initial analysis of the
iPad by now - or at least you should have. Don't take my word for
it - there are plenty of other reviews to read, and they mostly say the
same thing (provided they weren't written by the tech-obsessed
elite).
Two months after the arrival of my iPad on that memorable Saturday,
I'm still using it as my primary mobile workhorse, even more so, in
fact. I augmented it with my Pismo PowerBook for a few days,
but I gradually let go of the Pismo within the first week. It just
didn't offer that much more than my iPad did.
So where did the Pismo go? Right now it's being prepped to replace
our soon-to-be overhauled Compaq Presario 5340, pending the decision to
buy a USB-to-PS/2 adapter or just buy a new USB keyboard. The old
PowerBook and our Compaq MV520 CRT monitor go hand-in-hand
. . . or connector-in-port, I guess.
Mobility
As phenomenal as the iPad's battery life is while web surfing,
shutting down the WiFi and Bluetooth can pull another hour or two of
use out of the tablet. If you're listening to music and have a nice
long playlist made, locking the iPad can stop most of its power
consumption. This comes in handy for long drives, and it will probably
be most noticeable during our vacation to Texas this July.
I was concerned about finding a bag for my iPad after hearing news
reports of them getting stolen -
one man lost part of a finger when thieves made off with his brand
new iPad - so I stopped by the local consignment stores to see what I
could turn into an inconspicuous iPad travel bag. I eventually left
Salvation Army with a black diaper bag that fit my iPad, my Apple
Wireless Keyboard, and just about anything else I could think of to go
with it (headphones, charger, etc.). Sure, it might not be the most
stylish thing in the world, but it makes me less of a target for
thieves and makes toting my iPad that much easier.
The iPad's WiFi is somewhat less powerful than that of my Pismo, but
not by much. The Pismo's range is a 15' more than the iPad's range, and
I suppose those who depend on public WiFi for work might want to
consider the 3G iPad (for those of you who already bought a 3G iPad and
had your email addresses stolen, my condolences), at least until
the promised firmware update arrives.
Having the Bluetooth on at the same time as the WiFi can severely
limit WiFi range, so use the virtual keyboard and built-in microphone
unless you've got a really strong wireless signal.
Productivity
The Pages for iPad update issued last month removed most of my few
complaints about Pages. Among other minor things, the ruler and toolbar
are now usable in landscape mode, making formatting changes much, much
easier. It's not as easy as keyboard shortcuts, but for most people it
should suffice (cut, copy, paste, and undo shortcuts do work,
however).
An update to my favorite file-synching service, Dropbox, gave me the ability to sync my
Pages documents, albeit as .doc files, with my other computers and back
to my iPad for editing. I can now open and edit documents in Pages on
my iPad and then upload them to Dropbox, which makes my life a whole
lot easier.
One app I am really looking forward to using this fall is
Blackboard Mobile Learn, which could complete my avoidance of my
school's antiquated and buggy WebCT system (I've contacted
my school's tech department, and they plan to have Mobile Learn online
by the fall semester). I had a bad experience last semester with one
instructor using a less than organized layout for her WebCT page. This
app should put an end to that - the Mobile Learn layout is
standardized, so I know where everything is, every time.
I haven't had a chance to try any e-textbooks yet, but I'm planning
on using them as exclusively as possible this fall, saving myself a lot
of money (including chiropractor's bills).
Print n Share for the iPad does allow for limited printing
capabilities from the iPad, but I've never had to use it. Most of my
work stays digital - my novel, when finished, will hopefully hit the
iBookstore shelves without ever becoming a printed book.
Odds and Ends
In addition to being my go-to mobile device, my iPad is also my
alarm clock. After some problems with the iPhone version of Alarm
Clock Pro on my iPad, I switched to Night
Clock for iPad and have been awakened on time, every time, ever
since.
I read a report somewhere that the iPad's screen could cause sleep
loss because of its brightness - this was seen more in people who
stayed inside all day and less in people who get plenty of sunlight.
Fortunately, here in Iowa, the temperatures are perfect for getting
outside, and I have a paper route every morning, so I get my quota of
sunlight. I've never had any problems with sleeplessness because of my
iPad. If anything, it's less noticeable than my old Sony Dream
Machine.
The
Weather Channel app is disappointing. If you're thinking about
getting it, don't - it's slow, buggy, and generally not much fun.
WeatherBug works much faster and better. For once, I actually have
a weather app that beats out going over to the iMac and opening the
Dashboard to check the radar.
Fun and Games
X-Plane for iPad remains my favorite game for the iPad. The update
added a bunch of new planes and locales, deepening my love for Laminar
Research's impressive flight sim. The Apollo add-on is very cool -
after the
cancellation of Project
Constellation, it seems we're not going back to the moon anytime
soon, but you can get at least a small part of the Apollo experience by
landing the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module - not Low End Mac). I barely
managed it on the first try.
The ever-popular Scrabble
app has lived up to its best-selling reputation in use. Playing the
"real" version of Scrabble® didn't happen much around here - things
tend to get lost, especially small letter blocks. That, and we don't
have much room to just set a game somewhere and come back to it later.
The Scrabble app is perfect - small, portable, and mess-free. Best of
all, it saves where you're at, so you can come back to it later (even
months later, if need be).
I would still like to see the
Monopoly® iPhone app become a native iPad app (since
this article was posted, it has, but for now, Scrabble is a big hit
in my house. (Editor's note: Wikipedia
has a fascinating history of Monopoly and its predecessors.)
The Apple iPad Case
Funny how the littlest thing can make some people so irritated. The
fact that the iPad case gets dirty, only folds into landscape mode, and
<gasp> doesn't come in different colors drew the ire of many and
the admiration of few. Well, I'm among the few.
I spent a little money on this case, and it has proved to make all
the difference when using my iPad. It keeps it in place on my lap when
I am typing (like right now), makes a perfect stand when I use my iPad
as my alarm clock, and makes my iPad that much less conspicuous when I
carry it around.
And, as I said before, Windex® works wonders when the iPad case
gets dirty - spray on the front, spray on the back, spray on the
inside, and wipe it off. Presto - good as new (and it gets the sweat
smell out, too). I wouldn't overspray it, though, just to be safe.
Docking and Synching
Unlike some of you, I don't have an Intel Mac at home. ASUS, Sony,
and Gigabyte each released firmware updates for their motherboards to
bring their USB ports up to the required level for iPad charging, so I
decided to try it with our HP Pavilion a6400f (which uses an ASUS
board). After installing it, I closed my eyes and restarted the
computer.
No sparks, no explosions, no meltdown - just a working, booting
computer.
It turns out the stupid integrated graphics chip doesn't like the
firmware update - the graphics don't turn back on after waking from
sleep, so I uninstalled the update. I'm planning to buy a graphics card
for the Pavilion someday, but until then, I can live without charging
my iPad from it.
It did charge, though. And leaving it locked while plugged into the
Pavilion will allow it to slowly charge. But the sleep issue was just
too frustrating.
Synching is probably what draws the most ire from iPad critics - it
can't officially sync through WiFi or Bluetooth. I say, "Wah.
Get over it." Seriously, if we've become so mobile that we can't stop
to plug in our iPads to sync them, we are headed the way of the Roman
Empire - ease leads to disuse of critical parts of our body (think
"muscles" and "tendons" and "heart" and "brain"). Like remote controls
for TVs - great invention, but when you start expecting it to change
DVDs for you, that's when the line should be drawn.
Overall, iTunes provides a pretty decent synching service. I wish it
would allow me to sync automatically with any and all of the five
allotted computers under my account, but given that I'm using the
computer at home 99.9% of the time, I can live without that feature for
the time being.
Duplicates can be a problem on Windows PCs (if you use Windows Media
Player alongside iTunes), but those with Macs shouldn't have a
problem.
I did like not having to use the computer to get the latest Engadget Show podcasts. Though those
podcasts are huge downloads for those of us on 1 Mbps connections,
it's still cool to be able to access that kind of content without a
computer.
The Virtual Keyboard
"Netbook without a keyboard" - my favorite criticism of the iPad.
Actually, I'm getting really comfortable with the virtual keyboard, and
I've abandoned using my Apple Wireless Keyboard for emails. It takes
some getting used to, but typing on virtual keys is less of a challenge
than it might seem initially. I can "touch-type" on it now, which
really increases my speed. It's all about training your fingers the
distance between the keys instead of the feel of the keys - once you've
gotten that down, the virtual keyboard is a breeze.
I still don't know why Apple put the little bumps on F and J on the
virtual keyboard - if you can't feel them, they don't really do any
good.
A Really Big iPod
Once again, I must say that for its day, our Compaq Presario was
quite a PC. Everything but the dissected innards is still functional
and works fine. The CRT monitor hasn't suffered any field lines or
distortion, the tower is still in excellent shape and is ready to be
totally overhauled, and the speakers don't have that crackle to to them
that old speakers can get. The Internet keyboard, mouse, and IJ900
printer have since gone on to meet their maker (figuratively speaking),
but they've all been replaced.
With our aging kitchen stereo losing its speakers left and right (no
pun intended), I had a bright idea to pull out the Compaq's JBL Pro
speakers and try them with my brother's PSP and my iPad. Sure enough,
they are crisper and clearer than the stereo ever was, and the bass
response is very nice. With the PSP, they sound okay; with the iPad,
they sound great. I think the fact that the base volume of the iPad is
higher than that of the PSP has something to do with it.
The iPad is no boombox, but sometimes it's fun to pretend it is and
carry it on my shoulder, blasting deep mono sound out of its impressive
little speakers (I have yet to do this outside of my own home).
Carrying it around with headphones, though, is just dumb (of course, I
think walking around listening to an MP3 player in public is dumb, too
- I can't tell you how many times I've almost run into someone walking
around at college while they're zoned into their music).
HTML5 and Flash
Personally, I'm glad the iPad doesn't use Flash. I didn't like Flash
on regular computers (buggy, slow, and fans kicked in more often), so
why would I like it on my iPad? And, to those of you who are whining
about Farmville, you can finally
revel in your childish game on the iPad - a
Farmville app is in the works.
Hooray!
HTML5, on the other hand, is really exciting. I had to try an
embedded HTML5 OGG video on my Pismo (which runs Flash about as well as
a PSOne would run PS2 games), and the video actually ran at full fps
(or at least over 15) for about ten seconds until it had to buffer. If
my Pismo can at least run it decently, the iPad must rip through it no
problem.
Organization
Those of you with messy home screens, fear no more! After checking
the iPad's reset menu, I found the wonderfully useful option "Reset
Home Screen Layout", which puts the main home screen back to factory
default (except wallpaper) and arranges your downloaded apps in
alphabetical order on screens 2 through 19 or whatever it was (I'm only
up to screen five).
Learning Curve
Something I didn't address in my first review was the iPad's
learning curve, which is basically nil. To use the iPad, you really
don't need any prior knowledge of computers (provided someone has
synched it for you). Don't get me wrong - it'll expand your brain, but
in a different way than you might expect.
With a traditional computer, you learn how to perform tasks to make
the computer do what you want it to do. The focus is on learning how to
make yourself flow with the computer. With an iPad, however, you learn
how to integrate the iPad into your life - what tasks it can perform to
assist you in real life. The focus here is on having the iPad flow with
you, which is exactly what it was designed to do. It's like a funnel -
with a desktop or laptop, you funnel your world into it; with an iPad,
it funnels into your world.
Try to use it like a desktop or laptop, and you
miss the point.
That is, if you understand what it was made for. Try to use it like
a desktop or laptop, and you miss the point. Sure, it can do things
that were previously only doable on desktops and laptops, but it's much
more capable than that. Buy a Mac if you need to, but if you're looking
for that go anywhere, do anything execution that the old PowerBooks
used to have, look no further than the iPad.
Conclusion
After two months, I've had a chance to observe the iPad's strengths
and weaknesses in a different light. I've had to force it to restart
once (hold down the power and hold buttons), I've seen apps crash. I've
dropped it (in its case) and smeared it up and generally treated it
like my rugged old PowerBook. And it's survived.
As the iOS platform matures, I become less and less dependent on
full-fledged OSes and more inclined to use my iPad. I cannot wait for
this fall, when I can use the iPad version of iOS 4. I've participated
in a small way in the refinement of one app (Autoharp) by giving the
developer my feedback, and I think the iOS benefits similarly from the
feedback Apple receives from average users. This means, hopefully, that
by the time iOS 4 for iPad is released, the iPhone users should have
weeded out the most irritating bugs.
Unlike many Apple products, the iPad does not feel first generation.
I've worked with a first-gen (300 MHz iBook G3, stock with
OS 9), and I've used a last-gen (Pismo PowerBook G3, stock CPU,
upgraded RAM and hard drive, Mac OS X 10.4.11). The iPad feels
more like a last-gen product than a first-gen, so I am excited to see
how the iPad line grows and matures over the next few years, months,
even weeks.
I advise those who are considering an iPad to think for a moment. If
you want a computer to do something specific (i.e. Photoshop, InDesign,
Final Cut, etc.), you'll be better off with a Mac. If you want a
computer that can perform countless general tasks and will adapt in
ways nobody can imagine, buy an iPad.
Austin Leeds is a Mac and iPad user - and a college student in Iowa.
